Vietnam: A Major Player in the Coffee Industry

To continue our survey of the world's coffee producers, let us turn to Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee producer.

Coffee was first brought to Vietnam by French missionaries. Between 1865 and 1876 more than 400,000 coffee trees were planted. After the end of the Vietnam war in the 1970s, the Vietnamese government made coffee production one of its top priorities, developing huge robusta plantations in the central highlands region of the country. By the 1990s, when the U.S. market opened up, there was a huge boom in coffee production, based primarily on the exporting of poorer quality beans as a commodity -- mostly mainstream bulk coffee sent to major markets and large processors. Only a very limited amount of arabica has been produced so far, although the government is encouraging it as a way of increasing the value of exports.

Vietnamese coffee is ideal when used as a blend with other coffees. In the United States, Vietnamese coffee is often confused with French roast, which often contains chicory. The reason for this is that Vietnamese immigrants into the south would often use French roast when Vietnamese coffee was unavailable. The fact of the matter is true Vietnamese coffee seldom contains chicory in its blend.

Vietnamese coffee is traditionally brewed with a small metal Vietnamese drip filter into a cup containing condensed milk. The milk and coffee are then stirred together and poured over ice. "Hot milk coffee" is prepared similarly, although without the ice.